Phonetic Attrition Beyond the Segment: Variability in Transfer Effects Across Cues in Voiced Stops

Previous research shows that L2 learning can cause non-nativeness in the L1 of adult learners. These effects vary across segments, even across members of the same natural class (e.g., voiceless or voiced stops) differing in the presence or absence of transfer, the direction (‘assimilation’ toward L2 or ‘dissimilation’ away from it), and the magnitude of shift. However, little is known about how multiple phonetic cues within a single segment jointly exhibit transfer, or about the cross-linguistic linkages formed at this fine-grained, cue-specific level of phonetic structure. This study investigates phonetic backward transfer by analyzing production of three cues, voice onset time, voicing during closure, and relative burst intensity, across voiced stops /b d g/. Conducted among first-generation bilingual Indian immigrants in Glasgow, it explores how their native varieties (Hindi and Indian English) are influenced by the dominant host variety (Glaswegian English) with reference to the revised Speech Learning Model and its predictions of assimilation, dissimilation, and no change. Two control groups (Indians and Glaswegians) and an experimental group (Glasgow Indians) were recorded reading in English and Hindi words containing the three voiced stops. Findings reveal cue-specific variability, highlighting the multidimensional nature of CLI and challenging segment-level generalizations in models of phonetic transfer.